More from Complex

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

2. Balrog

Appeared in:The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers

The Balrog is a lava-soaked beast that looks like it just climbed out of the bowels of hell, where it played a couple rounds of golf with Satan. In the movie series, the Balrog appears in the mines of Moria and attacks Gandalf as the Fellowship attempts to escape to the surface. After that memorable encounter with the wizard, both appeared to fall to their deaths in the water below. However, the White Wizard still stood tall as the Balrog met its watery end.

His appearance is woefully short in the film, but what little we do see from the Balrog still stands out as one of the great fight scenes of the entire series. Not many creatures can put a hurting on Gandalf the way this fiery beast did, and that’s exactly why the Balrog lands on this list.